Kallas Says More of Estonia's Elite Should Be Involved in Governance, Proposes Bicameral Parliament
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Outgoing European Commissioner Siim Kallas said as much of the Estonian elite as possible should be involved in the state's decision making process.

Kallas told Eesti Ekspress Estonia should weigh a bicameral parliament system, and bring people outside political parties in on questions with more long-term effects.

He said he worried that more and more short-term ideas are thrown around during elections and few are interested in long-term programs.

“Estonia is small and Estonia's elite is also small. My idea is that as much as possible of the elite should be involved in state decision-making,” Kallas said, adding that the thought of uniting the nation's top brains to discuss important decisions is an "obsession" of his.

He said a body should be formed, larger than Parliament, which would increase the feeling of ownership of the state. “There are always elections going on and always election campaigns. Not everything should be tied to that,” Kallas said.

Reactions Cautiously Positive

One of the drafters of the Constitution, Jüri Adams, said it was a good idea but said he doubted whether it would overcome all of the flaws of democracy.

"In some way, presidents have served as the second house of parliament. First, Lennart Meri, who vetoed many laws, which he felt were not good or correct. There was less of it during Arnold Rüütel's term, but quite a lot of it in current President Toomas Hendrik Ilves's era," Adams told ETV.

"I know that it could help, to. The [bicameral idea] can't be shot down, but I doubt it is a method for getting over the current deficits of democracy."

Supreme Court chief justice Rait Maruste said the bicameral parliament idea merited discussion but cautioned against trying to implement it right away.

"Our Constitution today is clearly based on a Parliamentary model. The people have voted for it and we would have to hold a very broad discussion."

A new study by researchers at the University of Tartu found that 32 percent of Estonian children and young people experience sexual abuse, but that only a small percentage of them ever turn to a specialist with the problem.

Making for quite the start into the new year, the presidential wedding of 2 January has attracted a lot of attention. Ieva Ilves, Estonia's new First Lady, has granted ERR her first interview, broadcasted today January 14.

The Center Party's attempt to throw out the act that allows the registration of same-sex couples seems to be gathering momentum. After the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE), IRL is now considering supporting the bid as well.

Estonian businessman Oleg Ossinovski is officially a suspect in the case of Ugis Magonis, the former head of Latvijas Dzelzcels (LDz, Latvian Railway) who was arrested in August 2015 on suspicions of graft, and it will soon be handed to the prosecutor's office, said Prosecutor General Eriks Kalnmeiers in an interview with commercial LNT television on Thursday.

The Estonian Chamber of Notaries has drawn up recommendations regarding the Cohabitation Act, which gives same-sex couples the right to legally register their relationship. The act is due to enter force on January 1, but implementing acts to the law were not passed by Parliament in time, causing legal confusion.

The referendum on same-sex marriages in Slovenia, where 63.5 percent voted against giving same-sex couple the right to marry, has given new energy to the anti camp in Estonia too, says Erkki Bahovski, head of the Diplomaatia magazine.

The fear of refugees is largely grounded in socio-economic insecurities of people with low income and education level, found a poll commission by the Goverment Office. At the same time, the number of people who say that refugees deserve our help has increased since the last poll in July.

The government plans to set a maximum immigration quota of 0.1 percent of the total population, or just below 1,320 people for 2016. Minister of Entrepreneurship Liisa Oviir sees a need to increase the number in the coming years.

The Supreme Court ruled that former Port of Tallinn supervisory board chairman and current Estonian Olympic Committee president Neinar Seli is guilty of overseeing donations by the port authority to the committee.

Implementing acts to the much debated Cohabitation Act, which gives same-sex couples more rights, will not be passed this year, meaning the initial act will enter force on January 1 with a number of legal loopholes and problems.

When asked about the most important episodes in Estonian history, most Estonians tend to bring out similar events. Tallinn University's professor of cultural history Marek Tamm claims that on the one hand, this can be attributed to the revolutionary importance of these events. On the other hand, it comes from the shared common memory, which helps Estonians remember the story of the their everlasting fight for freedom.

In an annual tradition dating back to 1994, the Estonian Newspaper Association (EALL) has named the year's most press friendly figure and the most unfriendly figure, with police chief Elmar Vaher named the former and businessman Rein Kilk the latter.

Prosecutor General Lavly Perling said if corruption is not investigated then it supposedly is non-existent and Estonia can climb international rankings in the short-term, adding that the effects will kick in later when people discover corruption has set in in new places.

Former First Lady Evelin Ilves said President Toomas Hendrik Ilves's recent engagement new answers many questions asked from her since August 2014, when she was pictured in an intimate embrace with an unidentified younger man at a Tallinn roof-top hotspot.